Fluttershy's Mansion
by A Derpy King Boo
Summary: When Fluttershy wins a mansion in a contest she's never even entered, she tells Twilight and the others that they should meet there and have a party. However, when Fluttershy gets to her new mansion, things don't go quite as expected as they should. Based off of Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube.
1. I Won A What?

Fluttershy's Mansion

On a cold, frosty Wednesday night, Fluttershy is all cuddled up inside her own home, tending to some fairly important matters, when suddenly, the phone begins to ring.

"Who could be calling at this time?" Fluttershy wondered as she made her way towards the phone so that she could answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello there," the voice rings on the other end of the line, "I am looking for Fluttershy. Is she home?"

"This is her speaking," Fluttershy responds, "to whom may I ask is calling?"

"My name is Q.C.," the voice answers, "and I am here calling on behalf of the contest committee. Congratulations, Fluttershy! You have won the contest and are entitled to the mansion that was listed for whoever won!"

"But," protested Fluttershy, "I didn't ent-"

"You can visit your mansion using the map that we gave you in the mail earlier today," Q.C. interrupted.

"But," Fluttershy spoke again, "I didn't-

"Congratulations, Fluttershy," Q.C. said again before hanging up on Fluttershy, ending the eerily bizarre phone call.

Fluttershy went through her mail that she received today again. She hadn't noticed a map the first time, but this time she did. The map showed a picture of a huge, gigantic mansion that was placed within a deep forest. It also showed a relatively easy pathway that led directly to the mansion as well. Not wanting to question this logic any longer, Fluttershy decided to call her dear friend Twilight Sparkle and request an item from her.

"Oh please pick up..." Fluttershy commented to herself. She soon her a click thereafter.

"Hello?" the voice spoke. "This is Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight?" Fluttershy said.

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy," Twilight cheerfully replied, "how are you?"

"Fine, I guess," lied Fluttershy, "listen, I just won this mansion from a contest and I was calling to tell you that we should have a party over there. What do you say?"

"Really?" Twilight wondered. "That's wonderful! And the party seems like a great idea, too. I'll call Pinkie Pie and the others and we'll meet you there, sound good?"

"It sounds like a nice plan," Fluttershy replied.

"Where is this mansion located?" Twilight asked. "Just so I can be sure of where to go exactly."

"It's located in the middle of the forest," Fluttershy replied, "and there's only one pathway that leads to it, so it shouldn't be too hard to find."

"In the middle of the forest?" Twilight questioned. "Doesn't that sound a bit strange, Fluttershy?"

"A little bit, to be honest," Fluttershy admitted, "but how often do you see mansions in broad daylight? Maybe this is where it is for some privacy."

"That could be a possibility, I suppose," Twilight responded, "but, I'll get on with phoning Pinkie Pie. I'll meet you at the mansion later."

"See you later, Twilight." Fluttershy spoke.

"I'll see you later, Fluttershy." Twilight happily replied before hanging up.

"This sounds like it's a dream come true," Fluttershy told her pet bunny, Angel, "how often does somepony like me win things like that?"

Angel looked worriedly up at Fluttershy as she hugged him tightly. He could sense that something didn't seem right in this particular circumstance, but there was really nothing he could do to stop Fluttershy from going to see her friends at this mansion as she began to walk out the front door, flashlight in hoof.

"I'll be back later, Angel," Fluttershy cheerfully told the bunny while shutting the door.

* * *

Trotting along the pathway to the location of her new mansion, Fluttershy began to notice that the surrounding area didn't seem as warm and as friendly as the picture on the map made it seem to be. In the picture, the mansion was in an area where there was warm meadows and picture perfect green grass. Here, however, the mansion was as dark as the night itself, being visible to incoming travelers thanks to there being light residing from two - only two - windows, and the surrounding area trickled down lightning and roared with thunder fairly loudly, which, at often times, startled Fluttershy and made her question whether of not she should return home. However, driven by the determination and wanting to see her friends, she kept going.

As Fluttershy began to approach the mansion, she began to hear some crows chirp on a nearby tree branch. She paid no attention towards them as she continued on towards the mansion, slowing her pace down dramatically. Up ahead on the distance, she saw the gigantic mansion and a little shack in located nearby. Completely ignoring the little shack because the lights were off, Fluttershy continued up the path and entered onto the mansion's property.

It looked rather unkept a bit, though nothing was out of the ordinary - yet - since she was in the middle of a dense forest. Reaching the stairs, Fluttershy slowly walked up each one of them. She had reached the door and slowly opened it up.

"H-Hello?" Fluttershy quivered, hoping to receive an answer.

Nothing...

"A-a-any p-pony home?" Fluttershy stammered.

Still nothing.

She decided to go search for someone within the mansion. Fluttershy thought that, perhaps, Twilight and the others were deeper within the mansion. In front of Fluttershy stood a double wide door, though this door was deemed unusual because it had thorns and vines surrounding it. Fluttershy had tried opening up the door, though due to the vines and thorns, hurt herself in the process. She moved away from the inoperable door and looked around in the foyer of the mansion. There weren't any other doors to open up on the main floor however, two staircases that led up to the second floor showed two more doors that could be tried. Fluttershy walked up one of the staircases and found herself in front of yet another double wide door. She tried opening that door too, but found no luck with it. To her left was a single wide door, so Fluttershy sought out to try an open that one, but when she got there, this door also refused to open up. Fluttershy gave up trying to open any of the doors and decided to leave the mansion. Heading down the staircase, she was just about to leave through the front door, but was stopped short by the appearance of a random ghost.

Fluttershy quivered up in the corner of the foyer and tried shielding her eyes. What kept her from doing that though was the fact that this ghost was holding a key in the middle of its body. The ghost was startled by Fluttershy's appearance and dropped the key on the ground in the middle of the foyer. It then traveled up towards the room on the second floor that had the other set of double wide doors and phased through it. Fluttershy stood up on her hooves and grabbed the key.

"Perhaps it's the key that opens up that door..." Fluttershy wondered.

Grabbing the key and putting it in her saddlebag, Fluttershy traveled back up the staircase to the second floor and walked up towards the double wide door once more. Taking out the key, Fluttershy put it in the keyhole and turned the key to the left. She heard a clicking sound, then pushed the door open with her hoof slowly. The room was dark and spooky. Fluttershy slowly walked towards the left end of the room, until a ghost revealed itself, scaring the living daylight out of her. She crawled away as quickly as she could, but had a hard time doing so. Preparing for a death with the undead, but was saved by an unknown character with a vacuum cleaner attached to their back.

"What in the..." Fluttershy spoke, unable to finish the sentence or the question at that matter.

The unknown pony was trying to suck up the ghost that frightened Fluttershy, but was being dragged around by it. What ended this little "episode" was when the ghost punched this pony. After mocking the pony, the ghost disappeared and Fluttershy walked up to them slowly to see if they were alright.

"A-are you alright?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ugh..." The pony said. "I sure take a lot of knocks in this line of work. I'm getting too old for this ghost-catching tomfoolery. Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm Professor K. Bot. This house...I swear it seems to have more ghosts every day! What's a sweet, young angel like yourself doing around here, anyway?"

Fluttershy was just about to answer the unknown pony, but was cut off by the appearance of three horrifying ghosts! Fluttershy was just about to scream, but couldn't find the strength to do so. The other pony, however, grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and dragged her out of the mansion – as Applejack would put it – lickety split.

"All right, young lady, look lively!" the pony told Fluttershy. "Follow me, posthaste!"

The two then sprinted out of the mansion together and into the little shack Fluttershy had passed by earlier. Something weird was going on and Fluttershy didn't like the looks of it.


	2. Training Fluttershy

"So," Professor K. Bot started, "your name's Fluttershy? I think our paths were destined to cross. Well met, Fluttershy."

"Um..." Fluttershy quietly said. "W-where are we?"

"Hmm? Where's this, you ask?" Professor K. Bot repeated.

Fluttershy responded with a simple nod of her head.

"Why, these cozy quarters are where I do my ghost-studying." Professor K. Bot answered. "Professor K. Bot's Ghost Research Laboratory! The Lab, if you're of a shortening mind."

"And you live...here?" Fluttershy questioned.

"But of course!" Professor K. Bot replied with a smile. "So, let me see if I got this whole story figured out correctly: You won this mansion in a contest you didn't even enter. That sound about right?"

"That's it." Fluttershy quietly whispered.

"Hmm...that sounds pretty fishy to me, my dear Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot stated.

"That's what I said!" agreed Fluttershy.

"So, let me ask you this: You believe that the mansion behind us actually exists?" Professor K. Bot asked.

"Yes, I do," Fluttershy answered, "why do you ask?"

"Hmm...strange..." Professor K. Bot heavily said.

"Why's that?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Well," continued Professor K. Bot, "I've been living here since I was a lad of about twenty or so, and I'll tell you this."

"Tell me what?" Fluttershy eagerly anticipated.

"That mansion behind us just appeared there a few days ago!" Professor K. Bot shouted.

"What!?" shrieked Fluttershy. "B-but...how's that possible?"

"The spirits have fooled you, Fluttershy!" Professor K. Bot boldly stated. "I don't know if it's a dream, an illusion, or what-all, but I surely wouldn't be too happy winning a haunted house!"

"Nor would I..." Fluttershy lamented.

"This isn't a surprise, however," Professor K. Bot mentioned.

"It isn't?"

"No, not at all," Professor K. Bot answered, "why, just a few hours ago, five other ponies went up to the mansion without even stopping to chat...and they haven't returned yet. Were those five a dream, too?"

"You saw five other ponies walk into the mansion?" Fluttershy quickly responded.

"Yes, why?"

"Twilight...Pinkie Pie...all the others..." Fluttershy stammered.

"What?" Professor K. Bot asked, confusion sounding in his voice.

"Those five were my friends..." Fluttershy pointed out. "And they're still inside the mansion..."

"They were your friends, you say?" Professor K. Bot repeated. "Oh no! That's horrible! They wouldn't stand a chance against those ghosts without my help! You have to go after them!"

Silence fell for a short while before Professor K. Bot start talking to Fluttershy once more.

"Here's the plan, Fluttershy: I'll teach you to deal with ghosts so you can rescue your friends."

"Sounds like a good idea." Fluttershy surprisingly answered.

* * *

A few minutes have passed by since Fluttershy and Professor K. Bot discussed the plan from earlier. Fluttershy was taken to a large training facility that was manufactured and built by Professor K. Bot himself in order to help train him against multiple ghosts at one time. Fluttershy was standing in the middle of the room with five air ducts placed all around her. With her, she had the vacuum cleaner she saw Professor K. Bot use earlier and a kind of walkie-talkie device that allowed her to communicate with Professor K. Bot. At the moment, Fluttershy and Professor K. Bot were communicating over the walkie-talkie.

"That's the vacuum cleaner I engineered to catch ghosts." Professor K. Bot told Fluttershy over the walkie-talkie. "I call it...and this is genius...the Poltergust 3000!"

_**(I know, real original. But what did you expect from a Mario-My Little Pony crossover? Some things are bound to be the same, you know.)**_

"The Poltergust 3000?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yup," Professor K. Bot continued, "It can suck up all kinds of things! Let 'er rip!"

"But, how do I use it?" Fluttershy questioned.

"It works in the exact same way as a regular old vacuum cleaner would." Professor K. Bot advised. "Just flick the switch on the handle in the "on" position and you'll be good to go!"

Fluttershy did as she was instructed and flicked the switch on. Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner began working and began to suck up some of the dirt and dust that was currently on the ground.

"Good," Professor K. Bot praised, "now, no matter how strong you think your friends are, ghosts are mysterious beings and cannot be caught using conventional means."

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"By that, Fluttershy," continued Professor K. Bot, "I mean that you have to use the Poltergust 3000 to capture them. It's the only way to foil those ghosts! This is the only thing that they fear!"

"I see, now..." Fluttershy commented.

"Well, how's about we start your training, Fluttershy?" Professor K. Bot suggested.

"Well, all right..." Fluttershy slowly answered.

"Ghosts seem to like the darkness and, as a result, will avoid the light around them." Professor K. Bot stated. "So, if you hit the ghosts with a flashlight beam all of a sudden, you can stun the ghosts momentarily! At that point, they're vulnerable and can be sucked up into the vacuum! When you see your chance, simply start walking in the opposite direction and the ghost will be sucked up into the Poltergust 3000."

"That sounds hard..." Fluttershy ruefully said.

"Just give it a try, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot chuckled, "you'll learn more that way than just listening to me yap on and on about it."

At that moment, the lights shut off and one of the air ducts began opening. From that air duct appeared a ghost that was similar to the one that attacked Fluttershy and Professor K. Bot earlier in the mansion. Fluttershy was startled by the ghost's sudden appearance and began to back up into the nearest corner, covering her eyes whiile being slowly approached by the ghost.

"Come now, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot said, watching the whole thing from one of the cameras that were inside the training room, "you're stronger than that ghost is. The fate of your friends and their futures now rests solely on your hooves. You can do this, Fluttershy!"

"I _can_ do this." Fluttershy said, lifting up her head to notice that the ghost was considerably close to her now.

"At-a girl!" Professor K. Bot encouraged.

Fluttershy pointed the flashlight at the ghost, which stunned the ghost considerably. The ghost momentarily showed its heart to Fluttershy and Fluttershy took it upon herself to seize the moment and suck up the ghost using the Poltergust 3000. The ghost gave Fluttershy a bit of a fight, but was ultimately caught inside the vacuum. Once Fluttershy had captured the ghost, Professor K. Bot praised her for an excellent job, then told her to watch out.

"Ghosts sometimes come with friends of their own," Professor K. Bot warned, "so you'll need to keep a sharp eye out for them."

Suddenly, three of the five air ducts had opened up, revealing three ghosts at the same time. The three ghosts started approaching Fluttershy, much like the first one prior to these three arriving, and Fluttershy used the same strategy she used to capture the first ghost, without the quivering-up-next-to-a-wall bit. She stunned all three ghosts and then began to suck them all up into the Poltergust 3000. It was a bit tougher this time – seeing how the ghosts were all scattering out in different directions – but Fluttershy was able to pull through and suck up all three ghosts at the same time.

"Excellent work, Fluttershy!" Professor K. Bot praised again. "Now watch out! This is where the test truly begins!"

As soon as Professor K. Bot finished talking to Fluttershy, all five air ducts had opened up and five ghosts were released. Driven by determination, Fluttershy faced her fears and, by using the same strategy from earlier, was able to suck up all five ghosts at the same time into the Poltergust 3000. As soon as she finished sucking up the final ghost, the lights to the training facility flickered back on and Professor K. Bot ended the training for now. Fluttershy was tired, but she knew that she did an excellent job. She needed to inside the mansion if she wanted to see her friends once more.

"Excellent job, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot praised, "you caught every single ghost. Your training is complete. Now, where would you like to go? The mansion, back to the lab, or to the Gallery?"

"What's the Gallery?" Fluttershy asked.

"The Gallery is where I used to keep all my portraits before somepony freed all of them..." Professor K. Bot stated. "Now all that's in the Gallery is a couple of statues and a lot of blank portraits."

"Umm..." Fluttershy began. "I think I'll travel to the mansion, if that's all right with you, Professor K. Bot."

"Perfectly fine, my dear," Professor K. Bot replied, "to the mansion, you go!"


	3. Dark Rooms 101

Back in the foyer of the mansion, Fluttershy began to travel back up the stairs towards the only room that was unlocked – the parlor – in order to start the search of Twilight Sparkle and the others. However, before Fluttershy could travel up the stairs, she had spotted one of Princess Celestia's royal guards in the foyer and approached him slowly. The guard noticed Fluttershy and kindly greeted her.

'Well, hello there, Fluttershy," the guard stated, "what brings you here?"

"I...uh...won this mansion..." Fluttershy replied.

"You did?" The guard continued. "That's interesting."

"How so?" Fluttershy asked.

"Princess Celestia spotted this mansion appear a few days ago and sent me here to investigate it." The guard responded. "She told me to do that and, once she got word that Princess Twilight was missing, she told me to search for her myself."

"She found out about Twilight's disappearance already?" Fluttershy commented. "That was fast!"

"She most certainly has," the guard said, "as for myself, I would help search for the Princess along with you, but the ghosts that are deeper within the mansion have me spooked..." He begins shuddering. "If there's one thing I hate, it's being in the presence of ghosts...I can't go deeper into the mansion without being scared for my life..."

"I hear you..." Fluttershy quietly stated, not loud enough for the guard to hear her. He noticed the Poltergust 3000 perched on Fluttershy's back.

"Why do you have that vacuum cleaner, Fluttershy?" he asked.

Fluttershy looked back at the Poltergust 3000 and answered the guard's question posthaste. "It's to help me capture the ghosts that lurk inside the mansion. I have to use it – for the sake of Twilight and all the others."

"'Others?'" The guard repeated.

"Twilight wasn't the only pony to come here and not return," Fluttershy stated, "I have to take matters into my on hooves and find them and save them."

"I'd offer some assistance, Fluttershy," the guard said, "but for the sake of safety – were anypony else on their way here – I must stay here; it's what Princess Celestia would have wanted."

"Please," Fluttershy continued, "stay safe."

"Much yourself, too," the guard told Fluttershy as she began traveling up the staircase to the parlor.

Suddenly, as Fluttershy was about to go into the parlor, the lights to the foyer had flickered on. She became a bit startled, then looked hustled over towards the railing between the staircase and the floor of the second floor. She located the guard, who happily waved a hoof at Fluttershy, calling out to her.

"I found the light switch and decided to turn it on," he shouted, "hope I didn't scare you, Fluttershy."

"Not at all," Fluttershy lied.

"Be careful." The guard commented again.

"I will." Fulttershy called back as she entered the parlor.

Inside the parlor, all the lights were off. The only trace of lights were coming from six little candles on the far end of the room. Fluttershy slowly entered the room and began looking around for Twilight and the others.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy called, receiving absolutely no answer in return. The only thing Fluttershy got in response was one of the candles burning out. Now there were only five lit candles.

"Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy called again, receiving no answer again. This time, a candle on the opposite end burnt out. Now there were four candles left lit.

"Rarity?"

No answer, three candles left lit.

"Rainbow Dash?"

No answer again, two candles left lit.

"Applejack!?" Fluttershy screamed, still hearing nothing but the sound of her voice. Now, after another candle had burnt out, there was only one candle left lit, barely giving off any light at all.

"Oh, Fluttershy..." Flutteshy told herself, burning out the last candle.

Out of nowhere, the picture frames that were located on all four walls of the parlor had begun shaking and talking! They were scaring Fluttershy, who had curled up into a ball in the middle of the parlor, but refused to lose her determination.

"Who put out my candles!?" The frame in between the candles shouted. "Was it you, Ms. Yellow?"

Fluttershy wanted to answer that, but couldn't find any kind of strength to do so. "I-I-I..."

"Well, dark rooms are dangerous around here..." another frame located in the far corner of th room told Fluttershy. "Yessss..."

"B-B-But..."

"THEY love the dark...and now THEY will get YOU!" a third frame shouted. "Bloo-heh!"

"P-Please..."

"Now you're in for it!" A fourth frame whispered. "Blugh-huh!"

"TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy screamed.

"Just like the five other ponies before you..." A fifth frame stated.

"May you wander lost in the darkness," the first frame told Fluttershy, "forever! Are you AFRAID of the dark, little Pegasus? Are you? Huh?"

"N-N-Not really..." Fluttershy answered.

"Blah-hah!" the frame continued. "Here THEY are now!"

Without warning, the doors behind Fluttershy had grown a thick set of thorns and vines, as did the other door that was located to the right of her as well. Suddenly, three ghosts appeared in front of Fluttershy and somewhat scared her – I know, pretty surprising, right? Fluttershy, with determination looming throughout her body and her eyes, turned off the flashlight she had and allowed the ghosts to approach her. Once they were a couple of feet away from her, she turned on the flashlight, stunning all three ghosts momentarily and took this opportunity to suck up all three ghosts. The ghosts tried to break free, but Fluttershy had their number as she pulled them towards her and into the Poltergust 3000. Once the ghosts were sucked up and captured, the lights to the parlor had flickered on and in the middle of the room, there was a little chest.

"What in Equestria is this?" Fluttershy wondered, slowly approaching the chest. She began to open the chest – originally having a hard time doing so, but able to do it, nonetheless – and out came a key! "A key?"

Fluttershy took out the walkie-talkie that Professor K. Bot gave her before and scanned the key. According to Professor K. Bot, the walkie-talkie is designed to help out anyone who is in a jam, whether it be providing a map of the structure they were in or if they needed to know which key opened up which door. According to the walkie-talkie, the key Fluttershy had just obtained opened up the door that was to her right.

"Seems easy." Fluttershy commented as she approached the new door. Taking the key out of her saddlebag, she put it in the lock and turned the key to the left, hearing a "click" in the process. Fluttershy then pushed the door open and entered into the new room – the anteroom – slowly and steadily. Once the door had shut, vines and thorns had appeared on the door and trapped Fluttershy in the room, frightening her in the process.

Suddenly, without notice, a few more ghosts had appeared, one of them she has never seem before, but still a ghost nonetheless. Fluttershy had approached the middle of the room slowly, trying to get the ghosts to follow her in a straight line. Once she had managed to do this, she stunned each ghost – again – and began to suck them up into the Poltergust 3000 – again. Once these ghosts were sucked up, Fluttershy was preparing for the lights to flicker on, but they never did. Instead, a couple more ghosts had appeared in front of Fluttershy – which was a big mistake. Fluttershy took this wonderful opportunity that was being given to her and stunned the two other ghosts and sucked them into the Poltergust 3000 as well. Once these two ghosts were captured, the lights then flickered on, and Fluttershy noticed a door at the far end of the anteroom.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy called, receiving no answer yet again.

Once Fluttershy had reached the door to the next room, she opened it up and entered it – the wardrobe room – revealing, yet again, a dark room. Inside the room were three wardrobes, a mirror, and some dresses that were hanging on a clothes rack, but Fluttershy fared no attention towards any of them. Instead, she gave her attention to the six ghosts that spawned in front of her. Using the same strategy as before, Fluttershy stunned all six ghosts and began to suck them up into the Poltergust 3000, which seemed easy enough, though the complexity was through the roof – no pun intended. Fluttershy had a hard time sucking up the ghosts this time because all six ghosts were scattering out in different directions of the room. The job was long and a little bit painful, but Fluttershy had finally managed to suck in all six ghosts, thus flickering on the lights in this room and revealing a key in the middle of the floor.

"Another key..." Fluttershy stated.

She picked up the key, scanning it with the walkie-talkie. The walkie-talkie gave her the correct door to use the key on – the third door she tried opening when she first entered into the mansion – and started making her way towards there.

"Professor K. Bot to Fluttershy," a voice sounded over the walkie-talkie, "come in, Fluttershy."

"Hello?" Fluttershy called. "Professor?"

"Ah, Fluttershy, dear," Professor K. Bot continued, "my readings have indicated that you are doing a phenomenal job at the moment."

"Oh, why thank you." Fluttershy smiled.

"However," Professor K. Bot said, "they also indicate that there are some stronger ghosts that lie ahead of you, probably the gallery ghosts I mentioned before."

"Gallery ghosts?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Precisely," answered Professor K. Bot, "they are more stronger than the ghosts you have seen at the moment and can only be caught in a certain way – that way being different for each ghost."

"That sounds hard..." Fluttershy lamented.

"Not to worry, my dear" Professor K. Bot encouraged, "because I know that you can do it!"

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked, uncertainty sounding in her sweet, soft voice.

"As certain as certain gets, my dear," Professor K. Bot cheerfully replied.

With that being said, Fluttershy put the walkie-talkie away and proceeded to the next area of the mansion, head held up high.

"I will find you, Twilight," she told herself, "I promise."


	4. Lean, Mean, Fighting Machine!

"According to this walkie-talkie," Fluttershy began, "there appears to be a gallery ghost inside this study...but...where is it?"

Scanning the study with the walkie-talkie, Fluttershy noticed a rocking chair that was moving on its own, with no one actually sitting in it that was visible. Holding the walkie-talkie up to the chair, Fluttershy scanned it and, when the walkie-talkie started acting awry, determined that there was a ghost sitting in the chair. She turned around and noticed some light emanating from the chair and could tell that she was indeed correct about her assumption.

"How do I go about this?" Fluttershy said to nobody in particular.

Suddenly, the ghost had yawned and Fluttershy had turned around. She could see the ghost as clear as daylight as the ghost failed to disappear while yawning. Fluttershy also noticed the ghost's heart while they were yawning, but when they finished, the ghost had disappeared completely once more. This gave Fluttershy an idea.

_Perhaps I could suck this ghost up into the Poltergust while it yawns, _Fluttershy devised, _the only question is when will it yawn again?_

That question had taken the liberty to answering itself as the ghost started yawning once more the minute Fluttershy had finished her thought. Fluttershy, seeing this wonderful opportunity that was being given to her at the current moment, shined the flashlight on the ghost's heart, thus stunning it, then began to attempt to suck it up into the Poltergust 3000. The ghost attempted to fight back, but for some odd reason, didn't put up much of a fight. Fluttershy sensed this and, though it was a bit longer than the other ghosts, managed to suck up the gallery ghost in the Poltergust 3000. By completing this task, Fluttershy also found out that the lights to the study, with the exception coming from the nearby fireplace, had flickered on and a chest appeared in the middle of the room, much like back inside the parlor.

"Another chest?" Fluttershy questioned, slowly approaching it and opening it up. "It's another key..."

Fluttershy scanned the key with the walkie-talkie and, according to it, this key unlocked the door to the master bedroom, which was located at the end of the hallway she was currently in. Taking out her flashlight, Fluttershy proceeded towards the end of the hallway, determination looming closely behind her.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy called, though receiving no answer in return.

Soon afterwards, Fluttershy had reached the door to the master bedroom and pulled the key out from her saddlebag. She pushed it into the keyhole, heard a "clicking" sound, then began to push the door open. Inside the master bedroom, there was a bed, some leaves flying in from a nearby open window – which, on closer analysis, turned out to be a smashed window – some plants, a dresser, and a floating hairbrush. Fluttershy could see the reflection of the ghost that was inside this room in the mirror, who had just sat back down on a little chair.

_Maybe that's the way to capture this little ghost..._ Fluttershy thought.

Fluttershy proceeded towards the smashed window, which was being covered by a curtain, and started to remove the curtain, thus showing the smashed window in full. The ghost that was sitting down nearby noticed this and got up in order to put the curtain back over the smashed window. However, the ghost failed to guard its heart and allowed Fluttershy to do her work.

_Checkmate._ Fluttershy told herself, shining the flashlight over this ghost's heart, thus stunning it.

"Ohhhh..." the ghost wailed, trying their best to stave off Fluttershy and the Poltergust 3000.

"Come here, you!" Fluttershy shouted. "How dare you harm my friends!"

The ghost fared no challenge for Fluttershy as she managed to suck it up into the Poltergust 3000 fairly easily and, much like every other time so far, once this ghost was captured, the lights in the room flickered on and, once more, a chest appeared in the middle of the room.

"Another key, I guess..." Fluttershy told herself, opening up the chest. "Looks like I was right..."

Fluttershy took out her walkie-talkie and scanned the key with it. According to the scan, this key Fluttershy had just obtained was the key to the room that was located just across the hallway. Putting the walkie-talkie away, Fluttershy had exited the room, entering the hallway and pulling out her flashlight.

Before Fluttershy could begin proceeding towards the next room, she had heard some crying coming from elsewhere in the mansion. It sounded too young a voice to be Twilight or any of the other ponies, so Fluttershy refrained from heightening her hopes. Nonetheless, since she still had to search for Twilight and all the others, Fluttershy continued her pursuits deeper into the mansion.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy called, deciding to give the call another try, but still receiving no answer.

Fluttershy approached the next door and pulled the key to it out of her saddlebag again. She pushed the key into the lock, turned it to the left, hearing a "clicking" sound, then pushed the door open with her hoof and entered into the next room, which appeared to be a nursery. Inside the nursery, Fluttershy saw a rocking pony and a crib, which had a little baby ghost in it.

"A baby ghost!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "How cute!"

There was some slight wind movement in the room – which was completely bizarre, seeing how there were no windows inside the room – and the wind were rocking the pony back and forth slightly. This movement upset the baby ghost, causing it to wake up and, considering the crankiness of the baby ghost, they blamed Fluttershy for disturbing its sleep, also causing the door behind Fluttershy to grow some vines and thorns, thus trapping her inside the room.

"Hey!" The baby ghost wailed. "Wanna play with me?"

Fluttershy couldn't even answer as the baby ghost had already started flinging some of the nearby teddy bears at her. In Fluttershy's only form of defense, she was forced to suck them up into the Poltergust 3000, thus angering the baby ghost even further.

"I just wanted to play with you," the baby ghost cried, "I HATE grown-ups...why do you have to be bigger than meeee?"

"Wh-what?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I've had enough!" The ghost continued. "Small...now grow smaller! Small! Itsy! Tiny! Little! Wee! Ga ga goo goo GA!"

"What's going on!?" Fluttershy screamed as she and the ghost began transporting someplace else.

To Fluttershy's knowledge, she had just been dealt a curse, but what was about to take place momentarily would have proven else wise.

Fluttershy had to rub her eyes momentarily to figure out where exactly she was at the current moment. When she finally managed to regain her focus on the sights around her, she figured out that she was transported to the crib the baby ghost was sleeping in earlier, but the crib's location was some place elsewhere than the nursery room from earlier. The baby ghost had showed itself and it appeared to be twice the size of Fluttershy now! Taking out a rattle, the ghost began summoning some of the rocking ponies Fluttershy saw earlier to attack her!

"What do you...AHH!" Fluttershy was forced to take evasive action as the rocking ponies were headed straight towards her.

Once the rocking ponies disappeared, some colorful balls had began spawning as well, all pointed towards Fluttershy. Each ball missed, disappearing in the process, though one ball remained and Fluttershy decided to teach the baby ghost a lesson for abducting her.

Fluttershy sidestepped and moved about, trying to get to the ball. Once she reached the ball, she used the Poltergust 3000 to try to suck it up, but because it was too large an object to actually suck up into the vacuum, she pointed the ball towards the baby ghost and shot it with the ball. This stunned the baby ghost, and Fluttershy began to suck up the baby ghost into the Poltergust 3000. It was a tough challenge for Fluttershy, but she tried her best. Eventually, the baby ghost broke free of Fluttershy's grasp and summoned some more rocking ponies to attack her.

"That hurt!" The baby ghost screamed.

The ghost then summoned some more of the colorful balls to attack Fluttershy, whom was busy doging the rocking ponies at the current moment. Much like before, the balls all pointed towards Fluttershy, disappearing after each one missed, with the exception being the last ball. Fluttershy ran over towards the ball, grabbed it with the Poltergust 3000, then hit the baby ghost with it again. The ghost was stunned once more, then was being sucked in by Fluttershy. This time, the ghost couldn't break Fluttershy's grasp on it, ultimately being sucked into the Poltergust 3000.

"That'll teach you to mess with Fluttershy!" Fluttershy triumphantly shouted at the baby ghost.

Upon completion of the fight, Fluttershy was transported back to the nursery, which was lit up from there being no current ghost in the room. Also, there was a fairly larger chest behind Fluttershy, a chest that appeared to be different than any of the other ones she has seen as of yet. She was just about to open it when, almost instantaneously, Professor K. Bot called over the walkie-talkie, trying to get a hold of Fluttershy.

"Professor K. Bot to Fluttershy," he called, "come in, Fluttershy."

"Hello, Professor," Fluttershy answered, "what's wrong?"

"Oh, thank goodness," Professor K. Bot continued, "you're okay..."

"Of course I am," Fluttershy smiled, though Professor K. Bot couldn't see it, "why wouldn't I be?"

"You see, my dear Fluttershy," the Professor began explaining, "I lost contact with you all of a sudden...I was a tad worried about you."

"No need to be worried, Professor," Fluttershy cheerfully replied, "I just ran into a little baby ghost that just needed some manners to be taught to."

"Hmm," the Professor continued, "you seem a bit tuckered after that...don't you, Fluttershy?"

"Just a bit, to be honest," Fluttershy claimed, "I am a tad tired."

"In that case," Professor K. Bot replied, "why don't you come on back to the lab? I've been tracking your progress and I see that you've captured three gallery ghosts, the last one being a boss ghost. When you vacuum a boss ghost, the Poltergust 3000 gets pretty much full to bursting."

"Oh," Fluttershy gasped, "I had no idea..."

"Not to worry, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot continued, "after all, you showed that boss ghost who's boss!"

"I guess I did." Fluttershy chuckled, blushing a bit.

"Come on back to the lab for now," Professor K. Bot suggested, "we can revert the ghosts you've captured back into paintings and empty out the Poltergust 3000. Sound good?"

"I'll do just that." Fluttershy smiled.

"Be careful now." Professor K. Bot advised.


	5. Send In The Boos

"Good job, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot praised, "you made it back in one piece!"

"It wasn't as hard as I expected, Professor," Fluttershy smiled.

"You see," the Professor continued, "you're beginning to become a natural at this ghost catching! Now, take a gander at this." The Professor pointed to a large machine-conveyor belt mix contraption behind him. "This fine piece of work took nearly twenty years to develop! I call it the Ghost Portrificationizer!"

"That sounds like a mouthful..." Fluttershy quietly told herself.

"This machine lets us turn the ghosts you catch into paintings!" The Professor exclaimed. "Not only that, it works in reverse, too!"

"How do we use it, Professor K. Bot?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Hm?" The Professor responded. "How do we use it, you ask? Well, it's quite simple, actually. Just plug that Poltergust 3000 into that slot behind you and enjoy the ride, my dear!"

Fluttershy turned around and located the little slot Professor K. Bot was referring to before. She put the end of the Poltergust 3000 into the slot, thus activating the Ghost Portrificationizer. The machine sucked out all the ghosts Fluttershy had captured, separating the gallery ghosts from the normal ghosts, scrapping the normal ghosts in the process. The machine began moving about, startling Fluttershy, though Professor K. Bot seemed unaffected by it. Moments later, a little portrait had appeared on the conveyor belt and the machine spat out one of the captured gallery ghosts onto it. This happened two more times, but Fluttershy had followed Professor K. Bot after the first gallery ghost was spat onto the portrait.

"The ghosts are invisible..." Professor K. Bot stated while the first gallery ghost was going through the Ghost Portrificationizer. "So we need to press 'em into visible forms...and...presto! We've turned them back into beautiful ghost portraits!"

The machine had risen the three portraits up, showing a gold portrait, along with each of the ghosts Fluttershy had captured in the Poltergust 3000.

"That's Neville," the Professor continued, explaining who the ghosts were as they were being transported to the gallery, "this is Lydia, and this last ghost – the baby ghost that gave you a hard time – is named Chauncey. Thanks for your help, Fluttershy."

"You're quite welcome, Professor." Fluttershy smiled.

"Though the question remains," continued Professor K. Bot, "where exactly are your friends?"

"I don't know," Fluttershy replied, "but I'm going to head back to the mansion to continued finding them, if that's all right with you."

"But, of course, my dear," Professor K. Bot responded, "to the mansion, you go and please be careful!"

* * *

Fluttershy had entered the front of the mansion, yet again, driven by a high amount of determination. She approached the double wide doors in front of her and attempted opening it. The vines had mysteriously disappeared and all that was left was for the door to be unlocked. Taking the key out of her saddlebag – a key which was both colored and shaped differently than any other key she has seen as of yet – Fluttershy inserted the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door.

"Dark again..." Fluttershy claimed, taking out her flashlight to light up the surrounding area a bit.

According to the walkie-talkie, the only door that was unlocked in this area was a door that was right around the corner – the ballroom. Approaching that door, Fluttershy pushed it open, revealing six ghosts dancing with each other.

Fluttershy was confused, scratching her head momentarily. "What in..."

She lit the flashlight over each of the ghosts, though it appeared to do nothing. Fluttershy noticed that each one of these ghosts had masks over their faces, so she decided to attempt sucking off the masks and sucking up the ghosts thereafter. Approaching the two ghosts that were positioned and dancing in front of her, Fluttershy began to suck off their masks, successfully doing so. This angered the ghosts terribly as they began to approach and attack Fluttershy, though she managed to put a stop to that by stunning them and sucking them into the Poltergust 3000.

Fluttershy did this two more times and, once the last pair of ghosts were sucked into the Poltergust, assumed that the lights would turn on, though that never happened. Instead, the floor started spinning around and another pair of ghosts appeared and begun to dance around, this pair being similar to the gallery ghosts Fluttershy encountered earlier.

_How do I capture these two? _Fluttershy wondered.

The ghost pair danced around and, when they bowed to each other at the end of their dance, this gave Fluttershy the answer she was searching for. Fluttershy noticed the heart on the ghost and she stunned them, sucking them into the Poltergust 3000. It was a more challenging fight, seeing how Fluttershy had to remain on the moving portion of the floor. However, Fluttershy managed to suck up the dancing couple into the Poltergust 3000 and, upon completion of doing so, the room had lit itself up, revealing yet another chest with another key inside of it.

Fluttershy approached the chest and opened it up, grabbing the key and scanning it with the walkie-talkie. According to the walkie-talkie, this key opened up the door on the other side of the room, which, upon unlocking the door and opening it up, led to a storage room, a dark one, if I may add. Inside this storage room, there were two other ghosts, ghosts Fluttershy had never seen before. Fluttershy was so confused that she couldn't even stun them. As a result, _both _ghosts had wrapped themselves around Fluttershy's neck! Fluttershy struggled shaking them off, losing a lot of health in the process, but managing to do so. When the ghosts mocked Fluttershy, she grew angry and proceeded to suck them up into the Poltergust 3000. The lights flickered on afterwards, showing nothing else in the storage room. Nothing else, but a button, that is.

"Professor K. Bot to Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot called over the walkie-talkie, "come in, Fluttershy."

"Hello, Professor K. Bot," Fluttershy cheerfully said.

"I see you've met the grabbers..." Professor K. Bot stated.

"Grabbers, Professor?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Grabbers are ghosts that attach themselves to ponies and they will hold on for dear life to them." The Professor advised. "The only way to shake them off is to literally do just that. You have to shake them off."

"That sounds rough..." Fluttershy admitted.

"Not to worry, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot replied, "I know you're a strong pony. You should go off to the washroom and wash up a bit; splash some water on your face."

"Thanks, Professor," Fluttershy said before putting the walkie-talkie away.

Fluttershy was just about to leave the storage room, but the button on the wall is what kept her from doing so. She noticed and and pushed the button, which began moving the wall towards her right, extending the room significantly. After a few moments, the moving wall had come to a complete stop and towards the other end of the room was another button. Fluttershy approached this new button and also pushed this one, opening up a hole in the ground. The hole released some fairly cold air and – unfortunately – some terrifying Boos.

"Who has disturbed our sleep!?" One Boo shouted. This particular Boo was the ruler of them himself, King Boo.

Fluttershy screamed and crept up towards the nearest corner of the room while the Boos were flying randomly. King Boo sensed this and decided to tease Fluttershy about it.

"Oh look, guys!" King Boo added. "It's another pony! Let's capture her and put her in a painting as...wait...is that the Poltergust 3000!? Everybody SCRAM!"

The Boos then scattered throughout the mansion, leaving Fluttershy in the room by herself. Fluttershy was too scared to even move and had a hard time standing up on her own hooves once more. Just then, Professor K. Bot begun his attempts to contact Fluttershy once more.

"Fluttershy," he began, "are you okay?"

Furiously shaking, Fluttershy managed to grab the walkie-talkie and communicate with Professor K. Bot. "Y-Y-Yes..." she squeaked.

"That was them!" Professor K. Bot added. "Those ghosts were the ones who freed every one of my gallery ghosts!"

"I-I-It is...?" Fluttershy spoke, barely audible.

"You sound terrible," Professor K. Bot continued, "you should come back to the lab and rest up for a bit...it might help you out in the long run."

"W-W-Will d-do, Professor," Fluttershy stammered.

"Are you all right, Fluttershy?" Professor K. Bot asked.

"Those ghosts are frightening, Professor," Fluttershy quietly spoke, "I was scared of running into them while coming back here."

"Don't worry about them, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot comforted, "those ghosts – the Boos, more specifically – have the same weakness as all the other ghosts do that you've met so far."

"They do?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Precisely," Professor K. Bot continued, "the only difference is that those Boos hide in the furniture when a room is lit. That walkie-talkie I gave you earlier, Fluttershy, is equipped with a tracking device that will help you in locating those wretched Boos." He took the walkie-talkie and pointed to the tracking device. "You see this, Fluttershy?"

"Yes."

"This is the tracking device," Professor K. Bot stated, "this little light will flash a steady blue if there are no Boos in the room – much like how it is now – a flashing yellow, letting you know that there is a Boo located somewhere in the room, and a red strobe-like like to let you know that you are right next to a Boo that is hiding. With this technology, you are sure to decrease the power of those Boos, one Boo at a time. Who knows, maybe by getting rid of the Boos will help you in trying to locate your friends."

"Thank you, Professor," Fluttershy replied, still in a fairly quiet voice, "I think I'll head on back to the mansion now and continue trying to look for my friends."

"Most definitely," Professor K. Bot smiled, "just please be careful."

"I most certainly will, Professor K. Bot." Fluttershy answered in reply.


	6. Here Comes The King and Queen

"Excellent work, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot praised, "you've already caught five Boos!"

"It's quite easy searching for them with that tracking device you pointed out earlier, Professor," Fluttershy smiled, "this makes things so much easier."

"Just remember, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot continued, "the tracking device will only search for the Boos when the lights to a room are turned on. It won't work when the lights are turned off."

"I know, Professor," Fluttershy replied, sounding a bit tired from the ghost busting she was doing (see what I did there? Who you gonna call? I'm gonna call Fluttershy!).

"You sound a bit mustered, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot noticed, "why not relax and freshen up in the washroom. It's near the back of the mansion on the first floor."

"I will, Professor," Fluttershy continued, "thank you for the advice."

"Not at all, my dear Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot happily obliged, "now go on and be careful!"

"I will, Professor." Fluttershy answered before putting the walkie-talkie away to go and freshen up in the waskroom.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the frightening mansion, locked in an already lit room stood Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, though they were all trapped inside picture frames of their own. Each one of them tried pounding their way out of the frames they were in, but try as they might, their attempts all failed. They tried screaming for help, though that also failed, seeing how they couldn't be heard, seeing how they technically weren't real any longer.

Suddenly, two ominous figures revealed themselves and approached each of the picture frames that Twilight and the others were all trapped in. One figure – King Boo, more specifically – spoke first.

"I am really liking this little gallery we have set in front of us." He spoke to the other figure. "It looks rather interesting."

"I simply cannot accept all of this glory," the second figure replied, "after all, it was your Boos that derived this mansion up out of nothing! My Changelings can't do anything like that."

"Though your Changelings are upholding their end of the bargain pretty nicely," King Boo continued, "after all, that little foal who thinks she can try and save her friends believes she is catching some of the ghosts and my Boos that lurk inside the mansion. Boy, how wrong she doesn't know she is really."

"The Changeling pawns and Boo pawns are performing their jobs spectacularly, King Boo," the second voice stated, "with their help, it'll be a matter of time before these five are all trapped inside their paintings forever!"

"You can say that again...uhh...you said your name was what again?" King Boo questioned.

"Chrysalis," the second voice spoke, "Queen Chrysalis."

"At approximately midnight tonight," King Boo stated, "these five will be locked away forever!"

"And we can start our conquest of Equestria!" Queen Chrysalis stated.

"Then, you'll help me out in the Mushroom Kingdom," King Boo added, "after all, you promised you would and if you don't, I can turn all your subjects on you and stop this progress at any time!"

"But of course," Queen Chrysalis laughed, "why, the more land we own and rule, the better. Plus, we'll be the first villains to ever own and rule land in two uniquely different worlds."

"How that would look like in the history of my life, I can only imagine..." King Boo thought out loud. "Not even Bowser could perform anything like that! He couldn't even capture Mario! He should be working for me, not the other way around!"

"Focus, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis huffed, "we need to focus on this now. I'm fairly confident we can capture these five for all eternity, but I just want to make sure that we receive no interruptions."

"Absolutely." King Boo evilly answered back, hovering away from the five trapped Elements of Harmony, leaving Queen Chrysalis with them.

"Where's your precious Elements of Harmony, now?" She teased them. "You think Fluttershy can save you!? You must be joking to believe that. She couldn't even save herself from a pathetic ghost!"

With that thought simmering in the minds of the Elements of Harmony, Queen Chrysalis joined King Boo in guarding the room they were in. All things needed to go according to plan if they wished to leave the mansion with total power in their midst. Things needed to go according to plan and the last thing that needed to fall into place was the timing. Right now, it was nearing half past the twenty-second hour (10:30 p.m. for those who don't understand military time) and the trapped Elements of Harmony would be trapped forever once the clock struck 00:01 (12:01 a.m.).

"Time is on our side," King Boo spoke, easing the tension between the two dastardly villains, "there is no way that little foal can clear the mansion in less than two hours."

"Don't jinx things, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis replied, "let the time run itself down."

Little did these two villains know that Fluttershy had actually progressed deeper into the mansion fairly quickly during this time.

Twilight looked on at the two villains, giving up the hope that she could break free from the portrait she was currently in. Not even her magic could penetrate through the portrait, leaving Twilight both tired and helpless. With only her thoughts drawing the fine line between the brink of insanity and remaining completely sane, Twilight thought about Fluttershy, but the moments where she would prove to be a helpless mare.

_Help us, Fluttershy,_ Twilight thought, _you're our only help and all of Equestria rests solely on your shoulders and in your hooves..._

Rainbow Dash, who gave up trying to break through the portrait frame as well, also began thinking of Fluttershy, as did the remaining ponies.

_We're doomed..._ Rainbow Dash thought to herself.

_Fluttershy, darling,_ Rarity heeded, _please hurry up!_

_Come on, Fluttershy, _Applejack ruminated, _y'all are our only hope._

_Fluttershy, it's me, Pinkie Pie, _Pinkie Pie told nobody in particular, _I don't want to sound like a fussy, annoying friend, but hurry, hurry, hurry! _

"Can you help Fluttershy out?" Pinkie Pie points towards you. "Can you tell her where we are?"

* * *

"Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot called, "are you all right?"

"Fine," Fluttershy replied, sounding awfully tired, "why wouldn't I be?"

"According to my calculations," Professor K. Bot continued, "the horrible creature named Bogmire is all that's left in this area."

"H-Horrible creature?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"He takes his shadows and commands it to attack you, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot advised, "but that's also his weakness as well."

"That sounds scary..." Fluttershy quietly spoke.

"Not to worry, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot tried comforting, "I know that with your skills and determination, you'll be able to defeat Bogmire, coming one step closer to finding your friends!"

"You're right, Professor," Fluttershy replied, "for the sake of my friends, I must go on!"

"At-a girl!" Professor K. Bot joked.

Fluttershy chuckled a bit, then put the walkie-talkie away and continued in the pursuit of Bogmire, the shadow demon.

* * *

Deep down in the depths of the mansion once more, King Boo began feeling an odd sensation, almost like his power was slowly growing weaker as time progressed onward.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Queen Chrysalis," King Boo spoke.

Queen Chrysalis perched her ears upward, questioning the logic King Boo had just spoken as compared to approximately fifteen minutes ago. "What makes you say that, King Boo?"

"My power seems to be diminishing," King Boo alerted, "bit by bit."

"Just hold on a bit longer, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis encouraged, "we have a little over an hour remaining before these five are trapped forever!"

"I'll do my best," King Boo replied, "but the amount of power I have is proportional to the amount of ghosts there are in an area. The more ghosts there are, the more powerful I become. If my power is slowly diminishing, then the amount of ghosts left in the mansion is significantly lower than when we captured these five."

"Hang in there, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis inspirited, "we'll have our time soon enough."

_I sure hope so, _King Boo thought to himself.

* * *

"Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot called, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Fluttershy replied, "just a little tired."

"I see that you showed Bogmire who's boss," Professor K. Bot continued, "didn't ya now?"

"I guess so," Fluttershy answered.

"What do ya say you come on back to the lab to clear out the Poltergust 3000 and rest up a bit?" Professor K. Bot suggested. "I'm making dinner right now. Would you like to join me, Fluttershy?"

"Sure," Fluttershy smiled, "I'd love to join you, Professor K. Bot."

"Wonderful," Professor K. Bot chuckled, "now be careful coming back to the lab."

"I will, Professor," Fluttershy replied, starting to make her way back to the lab.

The hour was nearing 23:00 (11:00 p.m.) and the time for Twilight and her friends to be saved was slowly winding down. Fluttershy had a little over an hour to complete the mansion and save her friends, while unknowingly stopping both King Boo and Queen Chrysalis. Timing was an irreplaceable essence and it was slowly ticking away.


	7. The Race Against Time 1

"My power...it's slowly decreasing in strength."

King Boo felt weaker and looked weaker in an addition. His power was slowly being drained from him, courtesy of the unaware Fluttershy, whom was nearing the end of the mansion and - more importantly - the end of time itself. Queen Chrysalis was aware of King Boo's draining power, but there was nothing that her Changeling magic could do for him. All they could do now was wait for the clock to strike 00:01 (12:01). Right now, it was currently 23:20 (11:20), leaving Fluttershy with a mere forty-one minutes left to save her friends.

Twilight and the others were running out of time to be saved. They were close to becoming paintings forever and there was simply they could do to help Fluttershy out; they, too, had to wait it out and let time tell its course.

_Please hurry, Fluttershy..._ Twilight thought.

"You'll be fine, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis encouraged, "just a bit longer."

"I don't think I can hold out much longer though," King Boo remarked.

"You can," Queen Chrysalis stated, "and you will."

* * *

"Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot called, "are you okay, dear?"

"I'm fine," Fluttershy squeaked.

"That lightning bolt almost hit you!" Professor K. Bot exclaimed.

"I know," Fluttershy continued, pulling her hooves away from her head, "the mansion took it pretty well, though."

"Fluttershy, dear," Professor K. Bot replied, "the power to the mansion has gone out because of that lightning strike."

"What!?" shrieked Fluttershy.

"Not to worry, my dear," Professor K. Bot chuckled, "in the basement of the mansion, there is a circuit breaker room. Enter the room and you should see a large generator in the middle. If the switch is in the down position, simply pull it up and the lights will come back on."

"Thank you, Professor K. Bot," Fluttershy obliged, "I'll get right on it."

"Be careful, dear," Professor K. Bot warned, "the ghosts like the dark environments."

"I will, Professor," Fluttershy replied, "thanks again."

"You're quite welcome, my dear." Professor K. Bot said.

Fluttershy then put the walkie-talkie away and started making her way to the basement of the mansion, to the circuit breaker room. Not even a few yards later did a swarm of ghosts come and start coming for Fluttershy. Instead of fighting them off and sucking them into the Poltergust 3000, Fluttershy continued running to the door located on the far side of the balcony she was on. By the time she reached the door, there were roughly ten ghosts that were hot on her trail. Fluttershy entered back into the mansion and slammed the door shut behind her, rushing down towards the basement so that she could turn the lights back on in the mansion.

* * *

"What was that?" Queen Chrysalis wondered.

"Some of the illusion art lightning must have struck the mansion." King Boo answered. "It turned off all the lights."

"Yeah, no kidding," Queen Chrysalis replied, getting a better glimpse at King Boo, "you're looking better."

"Since all the rooms are dark again," King Boo explained, "more ghosts have been coming into the mansion. Like I said earlier, my power is proportional to the amount of ghosts that are located in a certain area. The more ghosts there are, the stronger I become."

"And since all the rooms are dark, full of fresh, new ghosts..." Queen Chrysalis drifted.

"...I am just as powerful as I was before that little mare started ruining everything." King Boo completed. He turned towards the five paintings behind him. "And judging by the time," he continued, "this has really put a dent in her attempts to try and save them...not that it would've mattered anyway."

"She has a little more than a half hour remaining if she is trying to save them." Queen Chrysalis alerted King Boo.

"Too short of a time frame." King Boo reminisced.

Suddenly, the lights to the room King Boo and Queen Chrysalis were in had flickered back on, letting them know that Fluttershy had turned the power back on throughout the mansion. Queen Chrysalis didn't really mind it that much, but King Boo did. As a result of the lights being turned back on, he sharply lost the power that he had just obtained.

"My power!" King Boo grunted. "She'll pay for this!"

"Soon, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis advised, "after all, her time is too short to save all of them."

"Strike a dagger through her heart and claim her as my own." King Boo plagued.

"Soon, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis tried calming him down, "soon you'll have your revenge."

"And I'll serve it as cold as ice." He finished.

* * *

"Excellent job, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot praised, "now to get back to the top floor and finish working your way through the mansion."

"I'm so close to finding Twilight and the others!" Fluttershy smiled.

"I know how happy you must be to know that you're so close to finding your friends," Professor K. Bot continued, "but you mustn't underestimate the time left."

"What do you mean?"

"At approximately 00:01 (12:01)," Professor K. Bot responded, "your friends will be trapped forever. Didn't I tell you this, my dear Fluttershy?"

"No," Fluttershy lamented, "you never told me that."

"Then it must be my old age," Professor K. Bot used as an excuse, "but you must hurry if you want to save your friends. You have a half hour left."

"A half hour!?" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Hurry, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot advised, "you nary a moment to spare!"

"Hold on, Twilight!" Fluttershy shouted. "I'm coming!"

And with that said, Fluttershy ran back up to the third floor of the mansion to continue her pursuits.

* * *

"She's gone, King Boo," Queen Chrysalis smiled, "she's gone!"

"Good!" King Boo replied. "By the time she gets here, it'll be too late to...save them."

Queen Chrysalis noticed that King Boo had paused for a quick second and gave the utmost unusual face she had seen yet. Not wasting another moment, she questioned King Boo, trying to uncover what was wrong.

"Are you okay, King Boo?" Queen Chrysalis asked, showing compassion towards him, seeing how they were working together to take over Equestria and he was a vital part to this operation.

"Fine." He answered.

"Another one gone?" She replied.

King Boo glanced over towards Queen Chrysalis and stared her down in the eyes.

"That was the last one." He ruefully stated.

"But...then that means that..."

"She's on her way here." King Boo alerted.

"What do we do?" Queen Chrysalis panicked.

"Relax," King Boo said, "let her come, then we'll stall her in a fight inside one of those paintings."

"You sound like you've been through this kind of thing before." Queen Chrysalis smirked.

"Let's just say that this time will end a bit differently than last time." King Boo replied, referring to when Luigi defeated him, saving Mario.

"I'll hold you to that." Queen Chrysalis added.

* * *

"Excellent work, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot praised, "you've captured Vincent Van Gore and now only have one enemy left between you and your friends."

"Thank you, Professor K. Bot," Fluttershy smiled, "now to travel to the bottom of the mansion, into the forbidden room, and save my friends."

"Keep in mind, child," Professor K. Bot added, "you only have fifteen minutes to save them. Otherwise, they'll be gone for good."

"I'll save them," Fluttershy confidently spoke, "don't you worry about it."

"Hurry now, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot advised, "hurry before it's too late!"

Fluttershy put the walkie-talkie back into her saddlebag and then began rushing back to the bottom of the mansion for what was to be a final battle between her and, most likely, King Boo.

The fact that Queen Chrysalis was an unknown variable would prove to be tough for Fluttershy in a matter of minutes.

* * *

"Listen," King Boo said, "hear that?"

"I do..." Queen Chrysalis replied.

"She's here." King Boo continued. "Now, into the painting."

Using the ability King Boo had given her prior to these events occurring, Queen Chrysalis had jumped into the Twilight painting and instantly vanished. King Boo turned and faced the five friend-turned-paintings, whom were trying once more to all break free. Just then, the lock to the door clicked and the door started moving. In came Fluttershy, trying her best to save her friends with time winding down - rapidly, if I may add. She stepped up to the middle of the room, then began to be spoken to by King Boo himself.

"This is where it all ends." He started.

"And this is where you end." Fluttershy spoke out.


	8. The Race Against Time 2

"Your meddling within this mansion has put a dent on our plans." King Boo told Fluttershy. "Because of you, we had to pull so many strings just to get you off our tails. Now, it seems that the last string is about to be pulled. You must be dealt with and must suffer the same fate your friends did."

"Don't be so sure that I won't go down without a fight," Fluttershy replied, "remember, I have the Poltergust 3000 with me."

"Oh, that blasted Poltergust doesn't fear me (all that much anyway)," King Boo answered, "you may have my friends locked up in there, but this is where they will be set free and yours will be trapped forever!"

"I'm afraid that it's the other way around...if that's alright with you." Fluttershy eased.

"Oh, how wonderful!" King Boo chuckled. "Now, enough of this blabbering stuff! It is time for you to join your friends _inside the painting!_"

King Boo then disappeared inside the Twilight painting and began sucking in Fluttershy, who had tried to collect the paintings herself and running out of the mansion in a hurry. Unfortunately, Fluttershy was completely sucked into Twilight's painting and transported instantly.

"Fluttershy?" Professor K. Bot summoned over the walkie-talkie. "Fluttershy!? Come in, Fluttershy! Oh no..."

* * *

Inside the painting, Fluttershy was transported to an exact replica of the mansion rooftop, only this was just the roof and nothing more; the rest of the mansion was gone. Fluttershy was all by herself until, suddenly, Twilight appeared before her. Fluttershy's emotions skyrocketed upward as she saw Twilight and began running up to greet her, but found that something was off about Twilight. Just then, Fluttershy saw King Boo appear next to Twilight and had begun telling her something.

"What a glorious day, Fluttershy," King Boo began, "wouldn't you say?"

"What are you doing with Twilight?" Fluttershy questioned. "Let her go!"

"Not in the slightest!" King Boo replied. "I figured that what would be a more better final battle than one between one of your greatest friends and you!"

Fluttershy was stunned. She couldn't find a way to answer King Boo and his idea. "I...but...you..."

"Oh," King Boo continued, "we can't forget about me as well!"

He then phased into Twilight's body and became one with her. King Boo began taking over Twilight's body, with features such as eye color and body height changing to King Boo's desire. When the transformation was completed, Twilight was now three times the height Fluttershy was and now had eye colors that matched King Boo's eyes.

"What are you gonna do now, Fluttershy!?" King Boo laughed.

Fluttershy trembled in fear, knowing that she simply couldn't defeat a King Boo-run-Twilight. She didn't want to fight King Boo, but then remembered that Equestria would fall in a matter of minutes if she were to not do anything. Fluttershy tossed the idea of defeating Twilight in her mind for mere seconds before deciding to get over the fact that this was Twilight she was fighting. King Boo laughed a bit more before using Twilight's magic to create three giant, spiked bombs. He then sent all three over towards Fluttershy, who dodged all three as they all blew up near her location. King Boo then began to suck in air, much like when Fluttershy was transported into the painting prior to this battle starting.

In an attempt to dodge the vacuum of air that was being inputted into Twilight's body, Fluttershy ran away as fast as her hooves would carry her. Twilight ceased the internal vacuuming and rushed over to Fluttershy, stopping just before her and creating three giant, spiked bombs once more, throwing them over at Fluttershy once more. This time, instead of running away to dodge them, Fluttershy sucked them into the Poltergust 3000 and aimed them at Twilight.

"Forgive me, Twilight," Fluttershy said, shutting her eyes as she released the bomb and shot it at Twilight's head.

The bomb blew up in Twilight's face, which made an odd popping sound, blasting Twilight's head off of her body. Out came King Boo from the body and Fluttershy pointed the Poltergust 3000 at King Boo, beginning her attempt to suck King Boo into it. What was different about sucking King Boo into the Poltergust 3000 was that Fluttershy never obtained a grip on him as she was trying to suck him up, making things a little bit harder for her.

"Come here, you!" Fluttershy screamed.

"You'll have to try harder than that!" King Boo replied, heading back to the illusionary Twilight. The head to the illusion reattached itself to the rest of the body and the fight began to continue on.

"Come on," Fluttershy huffed, "really?"

Twilight chuckled, then used her magic to create three more giant, spiked bombs, throwing them over to Fluttershy once more and, instead of running away once more, Fluttershy sucked it into the Poltergust 3000 again, aiming it at Twilight and shooting it at her once more.

"Show yourself, King Boo!" Fluttershy screamed, aiming the Poltergust 3000 towards the hole that Twilight's head used to cover.

Out came King Boo once more and Fluttershy attempted to suck him up once more. In the meantime, Twilight's head was floating overhead, shooting balls of ice at Fluttershy, trying her best to freeze her and damage her.

"Stop, Twilight!" Fluttershy screamed while trying to suck in King Boo.

Fluttershy was struck by a ball of ice, temporarily freezing her, allowing King Boo to return to the illusionary Twilight. Fluttershy struggled to break free while the illusionary Twilight reattached her head, but putting it on backwards. The illusionary Twilight ran around the arena, shattering the ice that Fluttershy was stuck in, freeing her.

"What the...?"

The illusionary Twilight spun it's head around and it now was facing the right way. Fluttershy was greatly confused, but had to put her confusion aside for now as the illusion was throwing over three more giant, spiked bombs towards her.

"You're no match for me, Fluttershy!" The illusionary Twilight laughed.

Fluttershy made no comment as she grabbed one of the bombs and shot it back at Twilight's face, detaching her head once more, revealing King Boo. With a determined look on her face, Fluttershy pointed and aimed at King Boo once more.

"You're mine!" Fluttershy screamed, dodging the ice attacks that the illusionary head was shooting towards her.

"No!" King Boo wailed. "Noo!"

"Come here, you!" Fluttershy shouted, pulling King Boo closer into her.

"NOOO!" King Boo wailed once again.

Fluttershy had made one last pull and successfully pulled King Boo into the Poltergust 3000. Oddly, once King Boo was captured, Fluttershy grabbed his crown and put it away in her saddlebag. This little action happened just before the illusionary Twilight collapsed on the floor of the arena, laying there motionless. Just then, Fluttershy had transported back to the forbidden room of the mansion, worn out and tired from her battle with King Boo.

"Fluttershy?" Professor K. Bot called over the walkie-talkie. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Fluttershy huffed, trying to regain her breath, "just...tired."

"You've managed to capture the dreaded King Boo!" Professor K. Bot praised.

"I know," Fluttershy smiled, facing the five paintings behind her. Each one of the paintings had her friends, whom were all collapsed from exhaustion.

"Heheheh," Professor K. Bot chuckled, "they must have collapsed from exhaustion. Quickly, grab them and return to the lab so we can return them back to normal."

"I'll be there as fast as I can," Fluttershy replied, putting the walkie-talkie away and grabbing each of her friends, returning to the laboratory.

* * *

"Good to see that you've made it back in one piece." Professor K. Bot smiled. "The weird thing is that the mansion was as real as the night itself, even though it just appeared there a few days ago! All the ghosts seem to have disappeared and – this part will really blow your mind – all this happened in the course of four hours! Now, all that's left is to empty out the Poltergust 3000 and reverse your friends back to normal. Let's reverse your friends first; time is almost up!"

"That's nice..." Fluttershy panted, who had sprinted her way towards the lab.

Professor K. Bot grabbed each of the paintings that Twilight and the others were trapped in, putting them at the end of the Ghost Portrificationizer. Each of the five trapped friends went through the machine in reverse, being turned back into physical figures. Once each of the friends reached the end of the reverse wave (which would be the beginning in the forward wave), each of them shot out from the chute and collapsed on the ground. Fluttershy smiled as each of her friends were turned back to normal and this horrible nightmare was over.

Professor K. Bot smiled at Fluttershy. "Glad to see your friends are all okay," he said, "now we just have to empty out the Poltergust 3000 and finish this thing off."

"Will do, Professor." Fluttershy smiled as each of her friends started to regain consciousness. She placed the end of the Poltergust 3000 into the chute that Twilight and the others were shot out of and emptied out the vacuum.

"Look," Fluttershy exclaimed, "is that...is that Queen Chrysalis?"

"She must have posed as the illusionary version of your friend from earlier..." Professor K. Bot stated.

"Lock her up into the painting with King Boo then, Professor," Fluttershy suggested. "After what she did, she deserves it really."

"Very well, then," Professor K. Bot replied.

* * *

"So this is it then," Fluttershy said, "all the ghost hunting is finally done."

"I appreciate what you have done tonight, Fluttershy," Professor K. Bot smiled.

"As do we," Twilight added, "because of you, Equestria is safe and sound now. We really owe you one, Fluttershy. You saved our lives and all of Equestria."

"It was the least I could do, Twilight," Fluttershy smiled.

Just then, the clock that was inside the lab began ringing. The clock struck 00:00 (12:00 midnight) and Queen Chrysalis and King Boo were trapped in the painting they were just placed in now. Fluttershy smiled as she was embraced by all her friends and the two villains were locked away for a long time. Fluttershy's hard work had finally payed off as she and her friends finally got to have the party they originally wanted inside the now empty mansion.

"You're our hero, Fluttershy." Everyone smiled, making Fluttershy beam brightly with delight.

"I'm just glad I got to see you once more, everypony." Fluttershy replied, embracing her friends in another hug.


End file.
